Kontakt 2012, 14(4):444-455 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2012.044

Stressing aspects of oncological diseases and possibilities of psychosocial help within the framework of social work and self-helping groupsHealth and Social Sciences - Review

Helena Záškodná^1,*, Gabriela Bolková²

¹ Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, katedra psychologie a speciální pedagogiky

² Ostravská univerzita v Ostravě, Pedagogická fakulta, katedra sociální pedagogiky

The study presents an outline aimed at mental stress induced by a tedious situation of life - oncological disease - and at possibilities of managing this stress to a certain extent through the mediation of a participation in a self-helping group. It acquaints the reader with the concept of the stress and crisis in general. It offers an outline of different concepts concerning stress with emphasizing the conceptual development of stress, at the beginning of which there were classical biological standpoints by W. B. Cannon, H. H. B. Selye (supplemented by the evolutional psychology viewpoint - H. S. Brachy) and later the transaction theory of stress by R. Lazarus. It describes the crisis as a temporal and dynamic concept and condition. It subsequently presents the Caplan four-phase crisis model according to the emotional equilibrium indicator and five-phase model by M. J. Horowitz according to the nature of experiencing physiological, emotional and behavioural symptoms. It furthermore characterizes the concept and possibilities of social work in oncology and delimits the psychosocial rehabilitation of oncological patients focused on the adaptation to new conditions of functioning and life due to the disease and treatment. Attention is paid to the social support, which is a considerable contribution to the ability of patients to actively cooperate in the therapy. The fact is pointed out that a proportion of oncological patients and their family members perceive the disease as a handicap associated with social isolation and possible problems at the working site. The social support is considered in context of an important form of the psychosocial help - self-helping groups. Main attributes are listed exerting beneficial effects on their members including sharing of experience, relieving of accumulated emotions in supporting and understanding atmosphere, and exchange of information. Characters of self-helping groups according to M. L. Moeller (size, continuity, one's own involvement and symmetry of relationships) are described, the self-helping groups are classified and targets of their activities are specified in general and in relationships to oncological diseases.

Keywords: stress in oncological disease; mental crisis in oncological disease; social work with oncological patients; self-helping groups; social support

Received: June 11, 2012; Accepted: July 25, 2012; Prepublished online: December 21, 2012; Published: December 30, 2012  Show citation